Malfunctions
by stephfarrow94
Summary: When Bel is hit by the malfunctioning Ten-Year Bazooka during a meeting with the Vongola, he is reverted back to his six-year-old form. Xanxus leaves him in Fran's care, and Fran is about to learn that even as a child, Bel is a handful.


Sometimes Xanxus didn't know why he bothered to attend the meetings with the Vongola guardians; they were really nothing but a waste of his time, being informed of things he already knew.

Right now, ten years after the Ring Battles, a meeting had been scheduled for two reasons – one; so the Vongola could meet Varia's new Mist Guardian, a boy who had been in their ranks for a few weeks now. And two; so a discussion on their now-malfunctioning Ten-Year-Bazooka could be held in order to try and find a way to fix it.

Xanxus knew this was all just a waste of his time, and he would much rather let the Vongola brat figure it out himself – but he also knew he had to at least go to keep an eye on his subordinates that would most likely cause more trouble than they were worth.

So now, as he sat within the meeting room in his favourite chair with a bored expression on his face, watching the Vongola trash introduce themselves to his new Mist Guardian, he could really, _really _go for some wine.

"Oi, trash," Xanxus growled. Everyone's heads turned as _trash_ really didn't give an indication as to whom he was talking to. "Go get me some wine."

Leviathan, ever the obedient lapdog, left immediately with high hopes of impressing his boss. Everyone else just thought he was a stupid sheep who needed to stop stalking their boss.

The Vongola Decimo, Tsuna, was relaxed as he spoke to Varia's Mist Guardian, finding the boy much more approachable than anyone else in the Varia.

"Hello, Fran." Tsuna smiled as he extended a hand, reaching out to shake the younger boy's. "I'm Tsuna, and these are my own Guardians."

Fran didn't reply, his teal eyes just watching the five other people gathered behind their boss curiously. He counted them, and he realised that one Guardian was missing.

The other Varia members were sitting in the middle of the room, talking amongst themselves. Lussuria and Squalo were holding a rather civilised conversation while Belphegor just twirled one of his knives around on his finger.

"The prince is bored." Belphegor pouted, swinging his legs back and forth beneath the large meeting table they were sitting at. "When are we going back to Italy?"

"Soon, Bel." Lussuria smiled, reaching out to pat the younger male's hand in a soothing manner. "You can go and have some fun after we're finished the meeting, okay?"

Back with Tsuna, he had just about finished introducing his guardians to the Varia's Mist, who he had learned was named Fran, before Xanxus growled again, "Hurry the fuck up, trash. You're boring us all."

Tsuna squeaked as he jumped, his nervousness around Xanxus greatly apparent. "S-sorry!" Turning back to his guardians, he mumbled something into his Rain Guardian's ear.

Xanxus just watched as Tsuna turned back to face him. He smirked as the other explained he had sent Yamamoto off to grab the Ten-Year Bazooka, idly wondering why Leviathan was taking so long with his booze.

"A-anyway…" Tsuna cleared his throat as he gathered up his courage to explain the Vongola's problem, "…our Lightning Guardian has the Ten-Year Bazooka, but… it's malfunctioning… It sent him back ten years into the past, and its effects still haven't worn off."

"You mean that cow baby from the Ring Battles?" Lussuria laughed, remembering the antics the Vongola's Lightning Guardian had made during his fight against their own.

"Yeah, that's right." Tsuna nodded.

"And what the hell are _we _supposed to do about it?" Squalo asked, looking over from Lussuria and Bel. "It's not _our _problem your Lightning Guardian doesn't take care of his things."

Tsuna sighed. He knew Squalo was right, but who else could he rely on to help fix this? He was still only getting used to his position and he didn't know how to go about contacting the Bovino Family where Lambo was originally from – even if he did, he couldn't speak Italian.

"I didn't know who else to talk to about it," Tsuna admitted sheepishly. "And I thought it might be okay for me to ask for your help since we had to have the meeting anyway."

"Dear, we don't know the first thing about a Ten-Year Bazooka," Lussuria said softly. "Or _any _bazooka for that matter. We're an assassination squad; not engineers."

"I realise that…" Tsuna frowned; he knew he was wasting their time, but surely if he could just get them to have a look… Maybe they'd notice something Reborn didn't, or have a theory about why it's malfunctioning – perhaps even help him start in the right direction in getting help. "It's just…"

"Here you, Tsuna!"

The occupants of the room turned to the entrance way as the Vongola Rain Guardian, Yamamoto, stepped in with a happy grin on his face, the Ten-Year Bazooka resting over his shoulder.

"Oh, thank you, Yamamoto." Tsuna smiled as he took the weapon from his friend, laying it out on the floor. He turned back to the Varia, disheartened by their disinterested faces. "Could you at least take a look at it and tell me what you think?"

"Voi! We're not a fucking – Bel!" Squalo snapped at his younger comrade as the blond sauntered over to the bazooka with a grin. "Get back here, shithead!"

Bel, who was incredibly bored, picked up the device. His obscured eyes scanned the bazooka quickly, his mind forming pieces of information together about it as he went. He was curious by nature, and he had never seen the Ten-Year Bazooka before.

"Bel, leave it alone, honey," Lussuria called out as he stood up, about to leave with the other Varia. "We're going to our rooms now."

"How does it work?" Bel asked as he ignored the group behind him. He unintentionally aimed the bazooka at himself as he looked it over curiously, fascinated by such a thing. "What makes it switch places with its user?"

"I'm not really sure, but – Bel, be careful!" Tsuna, who could see the way the older male was about to press against the trigger, panicked.

Bel looked up at the brunet as his fumbling accidentally caught the trigger of the bazooka. "What's wrong? I just –"

Tsuna, who didn't want anyone else to be hit with the bazooka until they worked out what was wrong with it and how they could fix the problem, squeaked as the blond disappeared in a pink cloud.

"B-bel!" Tsuna jumped to his feet, greatly concerned about what they would find of Varia's Storm Guardian; with such a device messing up as it was, they just didn't know what to expect.

"Fucking trash!" Xanxus roared at his subordinate's fuck up; without his wine, he was far more irritated than usual. "Going around touching shit when we fucking tell you to leave it alone!"

Lussuria looked panicked as Squalo just stood where he was, looking at the pink cloud with a blank expression. Fran, who was still standing with the Vongola group, tilted his head, having never heard of a Ten-Year Bazooka before and having no idea what it did.

"Bel-senpai?" Fran, who could see the cloud was parting, was confused as to why his partner was no longer standing where he had been. "Bel-senpai, where'd you go?"

"He's there, Fran…" Lussuria said in a voice full of disbelief, almost as if he were sure his eyes were playing tricks. "He's just… smaller…"

"Huh?"

Fran blinked again, studying the now-disappearing cloud carefully. He hummed as he made out a _much _smaller body sitting where Bel had stood – looking almost _exactly _like a miniature Bel.

"Bel-senpai?" Fran blinked again, reaching out to poke the boy's chubby cheek.

The boy slapped Fran's hand away, an irritated frown crossing his face. "You can't poke the prince, peasant!"

"Oh, that's definitely Bel-senpai." Fran nodded to himself as he crossed his arms over his chest, almost as if he had just solved some huge mystery. "He's just mini right now."

"Hey, why has he gone back further than ten years?" Lussuria questioned, coming over to look at little Bel. "He's even younger than he was when he joined us at just eight."

"I told you; the bazooka is messing up," Tsuna said, not knowing what to think – he had honestly expected the Varia to jump him for allowing this to happen to their member, but instead they all seemed really calm about it, almost as if they didn't care.

"Where is the prince?" Little Bel questioned, looking around at his surroundings in confusion. He hugged the bunny teddy he had brought from the past with him tightly, his lips set in a firm frown. He took in the large windows that covered the far wall, the huge table in the middle of the room with chairs all around it. There was a fireplace against the back wall, and a desk sat next to the entrance door.

"Umm…" Tsuna bit his lip, not knowing what to say – how could he explain to a _kid _about what had just happened?

Xanxus got out of his chair, a _very _annoyed expression on his face. He stomped over to the kid sitting on the floor, not caring for the way Little Bel whimpered and flinched at his approach.

Leaning down, the Varia leader grabbed the back of Bel's black shirt, lifting him into the air.

"Hey!" Bel cried, hugging his teddy tighter. "Release Prince Bel right now, peasant!"

Xanxus just snorted before he threw the boy at Fran like one would a piece of junk. Turning to leave the meeting room, he called over his shoulder, "He's your responsibility now, trash."

Lussuria and Squalo watched Fran and Bel for a few more seconds before they followed after their boss, knowing that their orders were to follow him to their own rooms.

Fran looked down at the boy in his arms, not knowing what to do – he had never had any experience with kids before, and this was the blond who, over a course of just a few weeks, had stabbed him, belittled him and treated him like _shit. _

Two of the Vongola guardians approached, and Fran recognised them as Gokudera and Yamamoto. Gokudera observed the boy with a wary gaze while Yamamoto just laughed.

"Little Bel is so cute!" Yamamoto grinned, reaching out to pat blond hair.

Bel pouted before he replied, "Prince Bel is _not_ cute."

Tsuna smiled shyly at Fran before he said, now that the other Varia had left, "U-um, well, since you're all s-staying here a while… w-we can help you with him until a solution comes up…"

Fran just nodded, tightening his hold on the boy in his arms. He didn't know what to think – he had barley known Bel when he was an adult, only ever seeing his vicious, nasty side. Would this kid be any different?

"Who are you?" Bel raised a hand, poking Fran's frog hat curiously. He raised his teddy higher so that Fran could see it, saying, "This is Bunny."

Though Fran's expression didn't change, he couldn't help but think that this kid was much cuter than his adult form.


End file.
